Tom Cruise was temporarily trapped underwater while filming most impressive stunt in The Final Reckoning, and the behind-the-scenes details just prove how difficult it must have been to pull off.
Speaking on the Empire Film Podcast, the film’s stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, offered a more in-depth insight into Cruise’s approach to The Final Reckoning’s most ambitious stunt. Not only did the actor insist that everything was filmed practically (at least, as much as possible), but this also led to an incident that could have seriously injured Cruise with one wrong move. Check out Eastwood's comments below:
Tom does not want an audience disconnected. He doesn't want them to be cheated… He just wants to do it for real as much as he can. As an actor, he wants to react to these things, you know? [...] He got trapped once. It wasn't bad, because Tom can hold his breath for a long time. Before he had even finished being trapped, I was already pulling the thing off him.
What Tom Cruise’s Stunt Work Means For The Mission: Impossible Franchise
The Actor Knows Exactly How Far He Can Push Himself
Cruise has become almost synonymous with his high-risk stunt work on the Mission: Impossible movies, but his work on The Final Reckoning is some of his most ambitious to date. There are many ways the submarine sequence could have gone wrong, yet Cruise was still determined to film it practically to avoid “distancing” the audience from the movie's intense atmosphere. Eastwood explained that it would have been possible to “have Tom swim through and react to CG torpedoes,” but that would have left “CG bubble trails” that may have brought viewers out of the movie for just a few seconds.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Changed Drastically After Dead Reckoning's Box Office Disappointment
After Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning fell short at the box office, massive changes were made to The Final Reckoning to make it more successful.
More than anything, this attention to detail is just further proof that Cruise has always been the beating heart of the Mission: Impossible franchise. There’s been lots of discussion about whether The Final Reckoning will really be the last Mission: Impossible movie, but it’s small details like these that bring into question whether this series could even work without Cruise anymore.
Our Take On Tom Cruise’s Sevastopol Incident In The Final Reckoning
Nobody Is Pushing The Action Genre Forward Like Tom Cruise
The fact that Cruise was willing to put himself in serious danger to avoid “CG bubble trails” is a perfect embodiment of his cinematic ambition, raising the stakes with each ing Mission: Impossible movie to see how far he can push himself in the name of entertainment. Even after injuring himself on the set of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Cruise has never stepped back from a challenge. This is exactly what makes the Mission: Impossible movies so engaging; beyond the great storytelling and gripping action sequences, it’s knowing Cruise is genuinely in these dangerous scenarios that elevates the movies even higher.
Source: Empire Film Podcast
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
- Release Date
- May 23, 2025
- Runtime
- 170 minutes
- Director
- Christopher McQuarrie
Cast
Ethan Hunt
Grace
WHERE TO WATCH
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning follows Ethan Hunt and his team as they pursue a formidable AI called the Entity that has compromised global intelligence networks. With new allies and a haunting figure from Hunt's past in pursuit, they must act quickly to avert a global catastrophe.
- Writers
- Erik Jendresen, Christopher McQuarrie
- Producers
- Jake Myers, Tom Cruise
- Prequel(s)
- Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
- Franchise(s)
- Mission: Impossible
- Main Genre
- Action
Your comment has not been saved